Celebrate American Craft Beer Week locally

With the growing number and continuing success of our area’s craft breweries, Houstonians have plenty to celebrate during this year’s American Craft Beer Week, which kicks off Monday.

And a number of fine bars and restaurants are making sure we have plenty of opportunities to make those celebrations memorable.

You can support U.S. craft beer and the multitude of stores, bars and restaurants that are doing such a tremendous job of getting those beers into the local market, where we can all enjoy them.

A sampling of the opportunities that have crossed my desk:

BRC Gastropub, 519 Shepherd: Daily events include the tapping of a dry-hopped Breckenridge 471 double IPA firkin at 5 p.m. Monday and a Saint Arnold beer dinner at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. Other featured breweries will be Buffalo Bayou on Wednesday, Rahr & Sons on Thursday, New Belgium on Friday, Karbach on Saturday afternoon. The week closes with a North Coast Brewing brunch from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Sunday.713-861-2233, brcgastropub.com.

Flying Saucer-Sugar Land, 15929 City Walk: Featured breweries include Dogfish Head on Monday (Red & White and Black & Blue); Stone Brewing on Tuesday (Cali-Belgique, Stone RIS, Vertical Epic 11.11.11 and Sublimely Self Righteous Ale, plus a limited number of Stone growlers for sale; Ommegang Brewing on Wednesday (Witte, Art of Darkness and Abbey Ale); New Belgium on Thursday (Lips of Faith party, with tappings of Tart Lychee, Prickly Pear Saison and Super Cru, a glassware giveaway and a featured Fire Sale of New Belgium Dig); and Avery Brewing on Friday (tapping the Holy Trinity: Avery Reverend, Salvation and Hog Heaven). at 7 p.m. Saturday will feature a Hophead Party, with a lineup of double IPAs of Moylan’s Hop Craic, a cask of Moylan’s Hopsickle, Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA, Laughing Dog Sneaky Pete, Stone Ruination and Great Divide 18th Anniversary Wood-aged Double IPA. Then Sunday wraps up with Texas Brewery Day, with all Texas pints $3 all day, and specials on leftover (as if!) from the week’s events. beerknurd.com/stores/sugarland

He’Brew, The Chosen Beer: Jeremy Cowan, founder of Shmaltz Brewing Co., with its new-to-Texas He’Brew and Coney Island beers, will be in Houston Wednesday and Thursday. Meet him Wednesday at Petrol Station, 985 Wakefield, from 7-9 p.m. for Shmaltz Pint Night. On tap will be Jewbelation Bar Mitzvah (13), which is brewed with 13 malts and 13 hops and delivers a Petrol-worthy 13 percent ABV. On Thursday, you can find Cowan at the Montrose Whole Foods, 701 Waugh, for a meet and greet from 4-6 p.m. After that, he will be at Onion Creek, 3106 White Oak until 8:30 or 9 p.m. From there, Cowan and company will head over to The Hay Merchant, 1100 Westheimer, for a rare tapping of Jewbelation 10 (10 malts, 10 hops, 10 percent ABV). You can talk to Cowan about beer and his new book, “Craft Beer Bar Mitzvah.”

Again, this is by no means a definitive list. Check your favorite spots to see what they have going on, then get out there and support craft beer — next week and every week.

Look for “Houston Beer: A Heady History of Brewing in the Bayou City” in April 2012. Find out about signings and other events at facebook.com/HoustonBeerBook.